When blizzards shut down Washington, it's business as usual for Sen. Charles Schumer

(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)In this photo, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., could have been talking about snow piling up by the foot in Washington. Schumer was delivering remarks at a Senate Finance Committee meeting during the markup of health care legislation. Washington -- The back-to-back blizzards that buried Washington, D.C., under almost 50 inches of snow last week managed to shut down Congress and the federal government for four days.

But while other members of Congress stayed home in their districts, or were trapped in their Washington apartments all week, it was business as usual for U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.

Schumer, known for his tireless work ethic and marathon days on Capitol Hill, said he walked from his Capitol Hill townhouse to work -- keeping his normal schedule.

"I was in the office every day from the usual 8 a.m. to 9 or 10 at night," Schumer said Feb. 11, when the halls of Congress were still empty and most of official Washington was deserted.

Although Congress postponed its usual work schedule, committee meetings and votes, Schumer said the break "gave me a chance to get a lot of paperwork done."

Some staff members joined him. "We're like the U.S. mail, no storm will stop us," joked Max Young, the senator's press secretary.

Actually, Schumer made the U.S. Postal Service look bad. Its carriers did not deliver mail during at least two of the blizzard days.

The winter-hardened offices of Upstate Reps. Dan Maffei, D-DeWitt; Michael Arcuri, D-Utica; and Bill Owens, D-Plattsburgh; all remained closed for four days during and after the storms as the region struggled to dig out.

Maffei headed to Syracuse to escape the snow on Tuesday, between the first and second storm. Arcuri missed both blizzards by staying in Utica, as Owens did by staying in Plattsburgh.

For the record as of last Friday, Syracuse's snow total of 76.3 inches for the season stood just ahead of the 72.8 inches recorded at Dulles International Airport in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C.

Reagan National Airport, the official measuring station for the city, recorded 55.9 inches, still making it Washington's snowiest winter on record. It shattered the previous mark from the winter of 1898-1899.